I found this sheet of goblin scribbles at the bottom of a draw recently. I’m often asked if there are any more GOBLINS books planned. Sadly, time has run out for these little tinkers. My creaking schedule just can’t make it happen and the longer I leave it the more unlikely the chances of revisiting them. It’s a shame and I’m a little sad. I do miss writing young fiction and it’s something I plan to look at again. Soon, I hope.

Meanwhile, a good twitter-friend of mine, Anne-Marie, recently posted a lovely review on her blog Child-Led Chaos about the GOBLINS! series which I thought I’d share with you  here. Do visit here again soon for regular postings on life, books and the secret to raising two kids with a smile!

Note: I’m having problems adding a link to the site so until I can resolve the issue please visit Anne-Marie’s blog here: www.childledchaos.wordpress.com

Saw a bit of this going on this morning, despite the recent rain. Hardly little fellows.

The end of May deadline for the fourth Douglas title We Love You Hugless Douglas is looming so I’m pretty much chained to the drawing board. The other day I found myself with a row of Douglas figures and thought I’d document the progress with my iPhone. Apologies for the poor quality of the pictures. I’ll be upgrading soon(!), but meanwhile you’ll have to live with what the modest 3GS can offer…

Nice to see a little sun today after such a miserable run of dull, damp weather. I wish we could decanter those warm rays of sunshine into handy cartons of sun juice, something to cling on to during the rotten spells of weather. This is actually a Star Goblin called Spangle for a story not written (yet). His carton is full of Star Juice but you get the idea.

I did this last night in front of the TV. It hasn’t turned out the way I wanted it to but it looks a little better this morning. I like the idea of doing a crew of knarled Pirate Trees but I seem to have got bogged down with the beard. It went down hill from there. I’ll have another go soon…

Here, in no particular order, are a recent collection of doodles that have have been a direct result of twitter…

Bunny Fudge

Floaty Witches

Zombie Digger

Mummified Digger

The Rat catcher

Peep

Birds

Angel vs Demon (on going theme)

Some of these drawings triggered the question from some that they wondered what went on inside my mind. It immediately reminded me of a lovely little cartoon by the late Mel Calman who sums it up nicely, I think…

So there we have it. Yes, twitter can also be an activity that on occasion I find myself thinking that perhaps I should be doing something else a little more constructive. On the other hand, I’ve definitely found my sketchbook filling up with some surprising material. I put it down to the quality of my followers.

What that says about them, and me for that matter, I’ll let you be the judge.

Despite the variety of blossom on show over the past few weeks and the promising start of many a tree in the neighbourhood, the trees outside my studio are still straining hard with their buds. Any day now, surely…

But some do! And when they do it really is very special. Here is beautiful drawing called  A Scallywag by 5 yr old Aimee. Yes, 5 years old! I love the detail she has included, particularly the patch around the eye, and the choice of marks she has used to depict it. Amazing!

This one was handed to me by a very shy fan at the Edinburgh Book Festival a few years back. Sadly, I didn’t get her name. I think she drew it whilst I was talking about Goblins.

Occasionally I get presented with something that makes me feel very intimidated. This incredible drawing was given to me by an art student whilst I was talking at Eason’s bookshop in Dublin. (The goblin drawing in the top left hand corner was the step by step drawing I was doing with the audience!).

I can’t finish without showing you a drawing my son did, a portrait of me. It shows my back to him at my drawing board. I guess I was doing Hugless Douglas at the time, which would make him 5 yrs old. And the detail he chose the depict – the bald patch on the top of my head. Nice heavy line there with the 2B, in case I missed it. Bless.